City drafts goals for coming year

Wednesday

Feb 6, 2013 at 7:16 PM

The Lexington City Council reviewed this past year’s goals Wednesday and discussed modifying the city’s direction.

BY REBEKAH CANSLER MCGEEThe Dispatch

The Lexington City Council reviewed this past year’s goals Wednesday and discussed modifying the city’s direction, ditching the ninth goal of supporting homeownership and replacing it with a new one: valuing a diverse, professional staff that is well-trained and reflects the community.No action was taken on the revision during the second day of the annual retreat as the council will review the draft and approve the goals during an open meeting. A draft of the city’s 10 goals for the 2013-14 fiscal year are planning and development of the Depot District, continuing the city’s economic direction, maintaining the city’s financial integrity, focusing efforts on improving the city’s appearance, supporting programs that will prepare students for good citizenship and a successful future, defining Lexington’s brand, supporting public transportation, establishing recreational facilities that include a senior park and a skate park, supporting development of green initiatives, and valuing a diverse workforce.Ernie Tompkins of Tompkins Consulting led the discussion about the draft, starting with a questionnaire about the satisfaction of the past year’s accomplishments. A survey showed that the council believed satisfactory accomplishments were made within most of the goals. “I want to put it into perspective that you have only been working on these current goals for seven months,” Tompkins said. One by one, the council reviewed the goals and the bullet points underneath each section, tweaking the wording and expectations for the coming year. One of the new items under the Depot District goal was to encourage small projects that showed progress such as the recent call for artist proposals for a mural project. Defining economic direction was changed to continuing economic direction. The council, as a majority, thought it had defined areas of economic direction with certain initiatives such as the new Office of Business and Community Development.“I feel like we need to continue on the path we’re on. We’ve already established our economic direction,” said Jim Myers, councilman. In the draft of next year’s goals, the majority of changes only included altering the language. One goal was dropped. With the economy in its current state, Lexington Mayor Newell Clark said many people were turning to renting their homes or apartments, so he didn’t believe that supporting homeownership was the best goal. Discussion was brought up to change the language of the goal to supporting affordable housing but in the end, the goal was replaced with valuing a diverse, well-trained workforce within the city. “We want our city staff to reflect the community we serve,” said Alan Carson, interim city manager. Tompkins stated that if these goals were adopted, at the end of the year, the council could point to ways it valued a diverse staff.

Rebekah Cansler McGee can be reached at 249-3981 ext. 228 or rebekah.mcgee@the-dispatch.com.